Outside Magazine Highlights Don Katz's Two Careers in a Feature and a Podcast Interview
Audible founder Don Katz sat down with Outside Magazine to talk about how "a love of words fueled his ambitions" initially as a journalist and author, and later as creator of what Outside called "one of the most successful tech and media startups of all time." In a feature and related podcast, Don reflected on Audible's beginnings through moving to the company to Newark in 2007, establishing the Global Center for Urban Innovation, founding Newark Venture Partners and more.
"Katz’s decision to write for a living, and in particular his ability to hear and employ the oral traditions of storytelling in his work, was born in the early 1970s, when he studied at New York University under Ralph Ellison, the author of the classic novel Invisible Man," wrote Outside. "The idea of what Ellison called the 'musicality' of the spoken word surely was lodged in Katz’s head while he labored to bring Audible to life."
Don said, "I had a very specific idea that there should be a distinctive mainstream media type based on the spoken word in America. . . refracting well-composed words through another extremely sophisticated filter, which is an interpretive performance. . . This is going to end up being a very nuanced art form that people will study. And that certainly is what happened."